Continuous corn acres rose sharply this year as many growers tried to capitalize on increasing corn prices.

There's a buzz — some of it positive, some not — coming out of southeastern Minnesota about a new strip-tilling machine. The chatter focuses on Mark Bauer’s Soil Warrior, which he says provides an unprecedented balance between conventional tillage and no-till.

Whether it’s flooding, drought, wind or bugs, there are always plenty of obstacles standing between no-till corn producers and that elusive bumper crop. Recently, western bean cutworm has emerged as one of those obstacles for some Corn Belt producers.

Some might consider Dan Peyton a “weekender” farmer, as he divides his time between no-tilling 300 acres of corn and soybeans and a full-time job at a nearby printing firm in Long Prairie, Minn.

Ask any no-tiller around the world what their biggest problem is and he’s likely to name moisture. Or at least put it among the top five concerns. If it's not the folks on the east coast worried about a drought, it's the folks in the Midwest concerned about drying out the field and being able to get out and plant on time.